Medical swabs are commonly used to collect biological specimens from a patient. Such medical swabs generally include a fibrous tip at one end of an elongated stick or shaft. Once a sample is collected, it may be transferred from the tip to a testing medium for performance of an immunoassay to determine the presence or absence of an analyte of interest. Some systems, known as “all-in-one” swab systems, have been developed that provide both the reagents for the immunoassay and the swab in a single, self-contained apparatus. However, one problem with such “all-in-one” systems is that the fluid contained within the apparatus often leaks out of the apparatus prior to use. In addition, the method for using such devices typically involves several complicated steps that may lower the real-time efficacy of the device in detecting the presence or absence of the analyte.
As such a need currently exits for a swab-based device that is effective in detecting the presence of an analyte in a simple manner.